Published by deborah.woehr on 27 Apr 2006 at 08:12 am
Literary Identity Theft: A Rising Trend
Kaavya Viswanathan is the next writer to face scrutiny for plagiarism. Ms. Viswanathan admitted to copying parts of Megan McCafferty’s “Sloppy Firsts” and “Second Helpings.” She wrote an apology to McCafferty’s publisher, who claims that she stole 40 passages to write her own novel, “How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild and Got a Life.”
Ms. Viswanathan claims that her crime was unintentional. After reading the article, I’d have to agree with McCafferty’s publisher. The passages are virtually the same.
Plagiarism has been a problem ever since the book was invented. But lately, I’ve been hearing about more cases. The Internet is a boon for writers, but it can also be a double-edge sword.
Cavan on 28 Apr 2006 at 7:29 pm #
The worst part about this is the fact that Viswanathan has effectively ruined her writing career on the basis of something that, at least in part, is probably the the result of a combination of youth and pressure (and 500k for two books at that age is a hell of a lot more than many writers could deal with, IMO).
I heard that the book was being taken off the shelves and it’s no longer available at Amazon, so I guess she’s gotten her just reward.
deborah.woehr on 28 Apr 2006 at 7:35 pm #
Being young and under pressure to perform occurred to me as a probable motive in her case. It’s a shame that she made this choice. She may not have produced the best-seller that she copied, but at least she’d still have her reputation intact.